Maccabi Netanya have turned to a familiar face to lead their women's team into the new season. The club has appointed Shimon Abuhatzira, a former Israel international striker, as head coach of the women's squad, ONE reported on Monday.
Abuhatzira, 39, was born and raised in Netanya and hangs up a long playing career to take his first senior coaching post at the club that shaped him. As a forward he shared the Israeli Premier League's Golden Boot in 2008-09 with 14 goals for Hapoel Petah Tikva, then went on to win the title with Ironi Kiryat Shmona in 2011-12 before finishing runner-up in the scoring charts a year later with 15 goals. He also had spells at Larissa in Greece, Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Ra'anana, and won three caps for the Israel national team after making his debut in October 2012, before retiring in 2020.
The club confirmed the news through its own social channels, welcoming Abuhatzira and wishing him luck in the new role.
The job puts him in charge of a program that is still finding its feet. Maccabi Netanya's women's team is barely two years old, formed after the club absorbed the roster of Maccabi Emek Hefer in a merger announced in September 2024. The team competes in the National League, one tier below the top flight of Israeli women's football.
There is also a family thread running through the appointment. Abuhatzira is the father of Yarin Abuhatzira, the 16-year-old forward already breaking into Maccabi Netanya's senior men's squad and drawing comparisons in the Israeli press to Barcelona's teenage star Lamine Yamal after becoming the youngest goalscorer in Toto Cup history. The younger Abuhatzira has since signed a new multi-year contract with the club, with reports suggesting Netanya would be reluctant to turn down an offer in the region of three to four million euros should one arrive.
For now, the elder Abuhatzira's focus shifts to preseason preparations with the women's squad, as Maccabi Netanya looks to build out a fuller women's program alongside the emergence of its next generation of talent on the men's side.
